


Felix's guide to a cliché high school romance

by nano_morphus



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, I tried for humor a lot in this fic, M/M, Prom, private school life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nano_morphus/pseuds/nano_morphus
Summary: Student Council Vice President Felix Fraldarius is known to be pretentious, snippy, and generally unfriendly. What they don’t know is that Felix Fraldarius also happens to have the biggest crush on Varsity hockey player Dimitri.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21
Collections: The Three Houses AU Bang





	Felix's guide to a cliché high school romance

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Three Houses AU Bigbang! I decided to go for an American high-school AU because I like to live my senior year vicariously through Felix and the gang. 
> 
> Thanks so much to Lee for working with me!! you can find his tumblr here: https://cyyanfoxx.tumblr.com/

It’s not a particularly abnormal day, when Felix gets ambushed at his own locker. He wakes up at six to an empty house -- his father is out on a business trip, as per usual. He takes Dagger, his newfoundland, out with him on his morning run around the neighborhood. He makes and finishes a bowl of cereal, and slings his backpack over his shoulder with toast in hand as he heads out the door. He rides his red bike that has paint peeling around the edges to school. He fiddles with the combination lock on his locker before shoving his school bag inside.

“Felix.” Felix hears the drawl behind him and knows who it is before he turns his head. He ignores the voice and the insistent poking on his upper back, instead taking his time to get his binders for his first class. As such, Felix is not surprised when he hears a hand slam into the locker next to him, and when he finally turns around, Sylvain Gautier has him pinned against his locker. Felix has an urge to roll his eyes. Ever the dramatic, he thinks. 

“The fuck do you want, Gautier?” Felix asks conversationally, no real heat in his voice. Unfortunately, Sylvain grew another couple of inches last summer, and with his athletic physique, he has Felix properly trapped with no escape, so Felix crosses his arms, and tries to look intimidating. People are staring, but Felix isn’t bothered, and he knows that Sylvain basks in that kind of attention. Sylvain smirks, and leans in to whisper in Felix’s ear, just for the dramatic effect. 

“I have information of interest for you.” Felix groans, and swats Sylvain’s face away. Satisfied in relaying his message, Sylvain gets out of the other’s personal space, and stalks away, leaving Felix to drown in his own misery. When Sylvain acts this way, Felix knows that it can only be about one thing: Dimitri. 

The human heart tends to be an unpredictable force, and Felix is only human, despite his attempts to transcend such a label. As such, Felix has, embarrassingly enough, harbored no small amount of feelings for one Dimitri Blaiddyd for many years now. Of course, Sylvain, Felix’s close friend of as many years as he has walked the earth, had no trouble figuring this out during the summer of Sophomore year. 

(They had been lounging about in the Fraldarius basement, playing pool and passing around a bottle of ridiculously expensive whiskey that Felix had taken from his dad’s liquor cabinet. Sylvain was trying to goad Felix into taking increasingly ridiculous trick shots, both of them a little more than tipsy. 

“So, Dimitri, huh?” Sylvain had asked casually while Felix was taking his seventh swig of whiskey, making him spit his mouthful all over his dad’s plush velvet couch. 

“No.” Felix chokes out a minute too late, and Sylvain stares him down with the most unimpressed look Felix has seen in his sixteen years of life. Felix can only avert his eyes.

“I mean, I guess I can see the appeal, the man looks like he can bench 400 pounds, no sweat.” Sylvain continues, and Felix reaches for the whiskey again. “But if you’re the type that’s into muscles — and I didn’t take you for that type, really, until I caught you staring him down at one of our games — shouldn’t, I don’t know, Dedue be even more attractive? No offense to Dima, of course, but that man is more socially constipated than you, and —”

“Please, no more.” Felix is certain he has never been this embarrassed in his entire life, and that includes the time when he was seven and burst out crying in front of Sylvain, Ingrid, and their collective families at his own birthday party. Felix is more than content listening to Sylvain’s constant thirsting and pining. Never in his life has he ever wished for his own crush to be brought out onto the table. However, because Sylvain knows Felix better than he even knows himself, he still manages to ply out the entire story out of Felix that night anyways, and has never shut up about it since.)

Felix huffs and makes his way towards his first class, the conversation already on the back of his mind. Professor Shamir, his Organic Chemistry teacher, has an annoying tendency to give surprise quizzes, so he’s switched gears deep into plant anatomy. Long time crush or not, it can wait until Felix has properly secured his A in Chemistry. 

\--- 

It’s lunch the next time Felix returns to the topic at hand. The cafeteria is a rush as always, as hungry students hurry to secure food as quickly as possible. Felix is at his usual table, catching up on some reading, when someone drops their tray down at the seat next to his. 

“Manuela again?” Felix says around a mouthful of food when he hears his companion sigh.

“Honestly! She’s so infuriating. She spends half the class talking about her sordid love affair with the librarian, and then randomly assigns us a paper at the end of class. She can’t just do that! This institution should’ve had her fired five years ago.” Ingrid huffs as she stabs her fork into her curry. 

Felix offers a sympathetic hum. While he has never had the pleasure of being under Manuela’s tutelage, he’s had enough of an earful about it from Ingrid over the years. She just can’t seem to shake Manuela history off, no matter what course she chooses. Felix lets his gaze wander as Ingrid continues to rant, letting her angry voice lull into the background. He nods at a couple of people who greet him as they pass by (Ignatz from student council, Professor Seteth who teaches his English class) before he notices Sylvain come in with his arm slung around none other than Dimitris’s shoulder. This prompts Felix to remember this morning, and he fails to look away before Sylvain catches his eye and has the nerve to wink. Felix turns away, flustered, only to meet Ingrid’s discerning eye. 

“Oh no” Felix mutters, and Ingrid pulls at his uniform jacket aggressively. 

“Felix Fraldarius, is there drama that you haven’t told me?” Felix doesn’t know why all his friends feel privy to each and every detail in his personal life. Sure, it’s true that he knows everything about theirs, but that’s more because they can’t keep their mouths shut and love to blab around him. He hadn’t recognized his obligation to reciprocate until it was far too late. 

“It’s nothing.” Felix tries to avert her eyes away from Ingrid’s heated stare. “Really! Sylvain just said he had something to tell me about—” 

“About Dima!” Ingrid almost squeals, and Felix has to shush her. She really has been spending far too much time with Dorothea. 

“Look, if I promise to tell you all about it this weekend, will you drop it? Please?” Felix doesn’t need this sort of headache in the middle of the musty cafeteria. Ingrid makes what others would call a face of anger but what Felix knows is more like a pout, and goes back to eating her curry. As if on cue, Bernadetta, a friend of Ingrid’s from the Archery Club, slides her tray over to their table, and Ingrid is successfully distracted. Felix rubs a hand over his eyes. Two mentions of Dimitri and it’s not even past noon. What a way to spend a Friday. 

\--- 

The rest of the school day passes rather smoothly. He almost gets into a fight with his brainless history teacher about Duscur immigration, and has the pleasure of breaking his back carrying a group project in Math when he gets paired with Lorenz and Claude (the two of them together is an absolute nightmare, neither of them get anything done at all). Really, just normal, everyday events. As Felix trudges up to the third floor of the main school building to attend to his Student Council duties, Felix hears the telltale clicking of high heels fall into step with him (is this the right way to say it)? And turns to greet them.

“Professor Byleth.” Felix nods, and they nod back. They’re carrying a huge stack of papers, so Felix extends a hand out to help but they shake their head to stop him.

“They’re for Principal Rhea.” They say, which means that they probably contain sensitive information. They turn their gaze to Felix. “Student Council?”

“Ah, yes.” Felix has always had an easy comradery with Byleth, despite never taking any of their classes. He feels the chaos from the day disappear a bit, as they walk together in silence. 

“Well, I’m here so—“ Felix points to the Student Council room, and Professor Byleth nods at him again before going about their way, the clacking of their high-heels following them into the distance. 

\--- 

Edelgard is the only one in the room when Felix opens the door, dutifully reading through dozens of club proposals, budget approvals, and other miscellaneous requests that the school is too lazy to read through themselves. When he slips through the door, she doesn’t even glance up before pointing to one of the giant stacks of paper on the desk. Felix only sighs, before walking towards it. He slides into the too-tiny chair before making a start on the paperwork. Most of it is already read through and approved by Edelgard, and only needs for Felix to sign. But Felix knows the importance of being thorough, and spends time skimming through each page before signing. Ignatz pops in once in a while to take papers to and from the room, but most of the afternoon is spent sorting through paperwork with Edelgard in comfortable silence. 

Felix actually enjoys these types of afternoons, basking in a companionable silence that he can’t seem to get anywhere else. The silence at home is different— it’s stifling, reminding him of his loneliness— and in other settings he faces the constant enthusiasm and frenzy of his friends. Eventually Edelgard taps him on this shoulder, and Felix looks up to see her holding a piece of paper in hand. 

“Would you go get Rhea’s signature for me?” She looks apologetic— Felix knows she doesn’t particularly like making him run errands for her, but he understands, so he nods at her and makes his way out. 

The day has now transitioned into late afternoon so the halls are uncharacteristically quiet, as most students have already gone home or are in their separate club settings. As Felix walks briskly towards the Principal's Office, he gives a quick read through of the paper he is carrying. It details the budget plans for prom, which was, to Felix’s surprise, happening in just less than a month. Time sure flies, and Felix still can’t believe that he is fast approaching graduation. He pushes open the heavy glass doors of the Principal’s office to come face to face with Seteth, Rhea’s secretary. The green-haired man’s gaze is piercing and judgemental as Felix explains his situation, but eventually Seteth waves him through.

“Principal Rhea is currently discussing matters with Professor Byleth. Please wait until they are done before entering her office.” Felix nods once in confirmation before hurrying down the hall. Even after two years of working with him, Felix still cannot understand how such a stoic man works the role of secretary. The door to Rhea’s office opens at the same time Felix nears, and he can hear the end-tail of Byleth and Rhea’s conversation.

“I’m serious about this, Byleth. Do something about that stupid boy.” Rhea’s voice is uncharacteristically exasperated, pitched louder than it normally is. Byleth just turns their gaze to Felix, winks, and walks past him. 

Felix blinks in confusion, and then promptly decides that whatever mess the professor has gotten themselves into is none of his business— he has enough to take care of on his hands without meddling. He knocks twice on the door before entering to get his budget approved.

\--- 

The sun is already setting as Felix exits the school building, painting the sky in brilliant orange hues. He walks down the steps alone— Edelgard had to schedule an emergency late meeting with the planning committee— keys to his bike’s lock already out of his pocket. It’s then that he sees a familiar tuft of red hair near the gates, and the events that transpired that morning come flooding back to him. Felix takes a moment to look up at the sky— grey, just like his mood— wondering if he can sneak out the back gate instead. Of course, it’s then that the mop of red hair moves, spots him, and enthusiastically waves him over. Felix resignedly accepts his own fate. 

“Feliix,” Sylvain whines as Felix pushes past him, making a beeline towards the bike rack as a last ditch attempt to escape. “I know you want to hear what I have to say!” 

“Hm.” 

“Come on, I’ll even drive you!” Sylvain slings his arm around Felix’ shoulder, forcefully leading him towards his car. A flashy, red Pagani Huayra, which is just like him. Sylvain had gotten it on his sixteenth birthday, after a lot of begging and a significant improvement in his grades. Felix still feels great pleasure knowing that he was the first one to scratch Sylvain’s haughty, shiny car (completely intentionally, of course). After chucking his backpack into the back, Felix settles into the front passenger seat. 

“Why were you even waiting around? Doesn’t hockey practice end around five?” Felix glances at his phone, which tells him that it’s already quarter past five. 

“Why I was waiting for you, of course! I wouldn’t leave my best friend out in the cold, without a ride, after an afternoon of grueling student council work.” Sylvain carefully leaves out the part where Felix has his own ride, that being, his bicycle. They both knew that Sylvain just really wanted to make fun of his reaction. 

“Okay then. Enough with the suspense, just get it out already.” Sylvain pouts at Felix for ruining his fun, but obliges.

“So, it all started yesterday, right after that awesome match that we won, you know, the one you were there for,” Felix glares at Sylvain, who gets the message and picks the story up. “Okay, okay! In the locker rooms after the match all the guys were going around talking about their prom plans and Dimitri said he wasn’t taking anyone yet but—” and here Sylvain makes an incredibly poor imitation of Dimitri’s voice— “was planning to.” 

Felix groans, both annoyed and secretly a little disappointed. “That’s it? That’s what you were waiting to tell me after all that suspense?” 

“Shut up! That’s big news! He was blushing so hard, the pure thing. Now you know Dimitri is going to ask you, so all you have to do is prepare your own heart. You don’t even have to make a sign to ask him out with!” Sylvain’s eyes turn a little wistful, and Felix knows he’s probably thinking about all the signs he has and will have to make and all the rejections he will be continuing to receive.

Felix rolls his eyes. “Not this again. I have no idea why you and Ingrid are so convinced that he likes me. We haven’t even talked outside of class since Freshman year, for Goddesses sake!” 

Sylvain opens his mouth to retort, but they’re just about pulling up to Felix’s house so he hastily grabs his bag and opens the door of the car. He really doesn’t want to continue this conversation.

“You’re picking me up tomorrow morning.” Felix says, thinking about his sad little bike still sitting at school. He slams the door closed before he can hear Sylvain’s protests. 

\--- 

The thing is, Felix’s crush on Dimitri is completely inexplicable.

They had been childhood friends from way back, when both of them were drastically different people. Felix had been a clingy, crybaby mess and Dima had been a kind friend. They were inseparable, with both Rodrigue and Lambert kind of clueless as to how they got there. The first time they met, they had just sort of clicked, and from then on, no matter how far apart their playdates were, they would always drift to each other whenever they saw each other next. 

But then, after Dimitri moved away for boarding school, they had lost connection completely. And then when Dimitri had moved back for high school, they were both far too different from childhood for them to click easily again. Felix had harbored feelings for Dimitri ever since he first saw him again— the kind, blond-haired boy from his memories had now grown up into a young adult who, although awkward in some ways, is genuine and, well, attractive. He watches Dimitri from a distance, never approaching because of the distance that he feels there being. 

Felix decides to put the rest of that out of his mind and focus on his homework. Why does he care who Dimitri takes to prom? It’s not like he was expecting anything to come out of his silly little crush, so it shouldn’t doesn’t bother Felix if Dimitri likes some random girl in their grade. As usual, he falls asleep to the dim light of an empty house, Dagger resting by his side. 

\--- 

However, since his friends just can’t seem to let sleeping dogs lie, the whole Dimitri debacle comes to haunt him again that very weekend, when Ingrid barges into his house. She brought a tub of haagen daz ice-cream and her Switch pro-controller, which means that she needs to burn off some steam and the best way to do that is by beating Felix up repeatedly in Smash Bros. Felix is on his sixth consecutive loss when his pride finally can’t take it any longer. 

“What is it?”

“What’s what”? Ingrid’s attempt to feign ignorance is completely ruined by the sound of her aggressively shoving her spoon into the ice cream. 

“Is it Dorothea? Do I need to have a word with her?” Ingrid’s anger and sadness have periodically stemmed from her hopeless crush in the past, and Felix wouldn’t be surprised if this instance was similar.

Ingrid blinks. “What? No! Thea didn’t do anything wrong.” She sighs and puts down her ice cream, which is a good sign. “It’s just that guy, you know, the one a year below. He just can’t take a hint, and keeps sending me all these suggestive letters, even though I’ve told him straight to his face that I don’t date men.” 

“Should I have a word with him instead?” Felix can already think of twelve ways to threaten the kid, and only three of them use his Student Council Status. 

Ingrid laughs, and pats Felix lightly on the shoulder. “Thanks Fe, but it’s okay. Killing you in Smash really helped. You’ve got to stop dying to my down air, I swear I’ve killed you at least ten times with it already.” 

Felix huffs at that, knowing full well he will never beat Ingrid at Smash. And he’s honestly alright with that, when he has a seventy-percent win rate against her in Mario Kart. He’s about to suggest that they switch the game to just that, when Ingrid’s eyes suddenly light up. 

“I almost forgot! Felix, what was that about at lunch the other day? The thing that you said you’d tell me?” 

Felix groans, and reluctantly summarizes his car ride with Sylvain, making sure to emphasize how baseless Sylvain’s suspicions were. 

“Are you even listening?” Felix asks accusingly when, by the end of his story, Ingrid has crouched down to give Dagger a belly rub. The usually grouchy mutt has his tongue lolled, and is wagging his tail aggressively. He did always like Ingrid best. 

“I am, Fe, but I agree with Sylvain, a hundred percent.” 

Felix blinks. “What, why?” 

Ingrid looks up to shoot him a deadpan stare. “We’ve had this conversation at least fifty times already. It’s not like he’s not my friend too, you know? Both Sylvain and I are constantly telling you this, but you always gain selective hearing and forget about it. You and Dimitri are similar in that way— both of you are so stubborn when you put your mind to it.” 

Felix wants to scoff at that. He and Dimitri, similar? No way. Dimitri was pure and friendly and all good-intentioned while Felix is just… gloomy. “We haven’t even talked since, like, elementary school, Ingrid. How could he have a crush on me?”

“Well first of all, you have a crush on him even though you haven’t talked.” Ingrid rudely waves her haegen daz spoon at Felix, “and also, you could make it easier for him to talk to you by not ignoring him or running away every time he tries!” 

“I don’t do that!” 

“Just last week, you were talking to Edelgard when Dimitri came to our lunch table to ask me about the math test and the moment you saw him you got up to go to the toilet. And you were even worse a year ago, remember when you guys were in the same chemistry class and you would never partner with him? Dimitri was like a dejected puppy when he was telling me about it. And—” 

“Okay, okay, I get it.” So what if Felix sort of avoids Dimitri? Whenever he sees the other man he goes into fight or flight mode. “Whatever. Let’s just stop talking about this, please?” Felix boots up Mario Kart with hope in his eyes, and Ingrid caves.

“Fine, but I’m telling you ‘I told you so’ when he asks you out” Ingrid plops onto the couch and picks her controller back up. She thankfully doesn’t touch the subject anymore as they turn their attention to the game on the screen.

\--- 

The weeks pass, and Felix is, as always, exceptionally busy. He maintains his good grades, surveys clubs, takes care of Student Council duties, and often stays late into the evening to help Edelgard with paperwork and the likes. With the insistent prodding of Sylvain, Felix also catches a hockey game or two, and if he catches Dimitri’s eye once in a while pre and post game, well, nobody has to know.

Between all the work he has to complete, budgets to approve, and speeches he has to write before the closing of the year, Dimitri’s apparent prom-posal completely slips his mind. So really, Felix has no one to blame but himself when, between bites of lasagna at his usual lunch table, Dimitri walks up to him with a bouquet of red roses and a large plaque asking Felix to be his date to prom. He also has absolutely nobody to blame when his reaction is to put down his fork and stomp out of the cafeteria, feeling the eyes of every single person on him as he leaves in embarrassment.

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes:  
> -Felix's dog's name is intentionally cringey. I just feel like a young Felix obsessed with the sword would do that to his poor dog  
> -his dog also definitely loves Ingrid more than Felix. I don't make the rules  
> \- Where is Rodrigue? Off being the absentee father in Felix's life  
> \- Felix's life entirely consists of being manhandled by his friends.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
